Iran President calls for regional security pact among Muslim states

Tehran: Qatar Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Thursday as Doha stepped up diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating regional tensions and creating conditions for dialogue.

The Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a post on X, said the two sides discussed "regional developments, their impact on security and stability, and ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions and foster a conductive environment for dialogue."

A new US aircraft carrier will deploy to the Middle East to relieve another carrier that recently sailed to the region as the war with Iran drags on, the US Naval Institute (USNI) reported.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group is expected to sail from San Diego, on the US west coast, in the coming weeks, for a more than seven-month deployment, USNI said Wednesday. It will relieve the USS George Washington, which deployed from Japan and arrived in the Middle East last week, replacing the USS Abraham Lincoln, amid reports of grim conditions on that carrier that has been at sea since November 2025.

In a sharply worded opinion piece, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former head of Saudi intelligence and a prominent royal family voice, warned that Iran’s attempts to weaponise the Strait of Hormuz as diplomatic blackmail will ultimately backfire. 

“What Tehran regards as leverage could, over time, become a strategic liability,” he wrote, arguing that Iran must abandon revolutionary ideology in favor of conventional state behaviour.

“Iran must conduct itself as a nation-state rather than as an international revolutionary movement.”
The article, titled “Strait Diplomacy: Where Is It Heading,” published Wednesday in the Saudi Gazette and the Arab News, comes amid stalled US-Iran talks following the collapse of a June 17, 2026, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

US President Donald Trump on Thursday hinted that his administration may be preparing sanctions targeting Chinese banks over their links to Iran, in what would be a major escalation of Washington's attempts to isolate Tehran.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week announced that the United States was stepping up its campaign to "collapse" the Iranian government through economic sanctions and other measures.

This includes a vastly expanded threat of secondary sanctions on countries that continue to do business with Iran.

China is Tehran's biggest trading partner, particularly when it comes to oil. Chinese banks continue to handle payments related to those and other forms of trade between the countries.

Asked by reporters at an event in the Oval Office whether he would sanction Chinese banks over such transactions, Trump responded with his own question.

"Who said I'm not?" he said, cryptically. "I mean, who said I'm not? You don't know if I'm doing it. Well, I don't have to announce everything, do I?"

The US Treasury has not so far issued any sanctions against major Chinese banks, although it has sanctioned several companies in mainland China and Hong Kong it accuses of aiding the Iranian government and armed forces.

China has opposed US secondary sanctions related to Iran as "illegal."

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Vladimir Putin is "not going to attack" NATO territory, pushing back against media reports that Washington is concerned about a possible Russian move on Europe.

Trump's comments came two days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow for surprise talks that US media said were to warn Moscow not to attack the NATO alliance.

"I've had good talks with him. He's not going to be attacking a NATO territory," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if the Russian president had agreed not to do so.

Asked to confirm the reports about Ratcliffe delivering a warning to the Russians, Trump replied: "I don't want to comment on that, but they're not going to attack."

Trump also played down the need to punish Russia for trading with their ally Iran, after his administration announced an "economic D-Day" targeting Tehran if it refuses to open the Strait of Hormuz.

"So far, I think Russia's behaved quite well, having to do with the Strait of Hormuz," he said.

Iran has executed over 500 people so far this year after a new surge in hangings in recent days, despite President Donald Trump urging the Islamic republic to halt executions, a rights group said on Thursday.

At least 511 people have been executed so far in 2026, according to Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, including at least 29 people in connection with anti-government protests in January.

At least 16 women are among those executed and at least 13 "political prisoners" affiliated with banned opposition groups, it said.

Activists accuse Iran of using capital punishment as a means to intimidate the population in the wake of the protests and the war against the United States and Israel that erupted on February 28.

"All executions, regardless of the charges, have a clear domestic purpose - to create fear and prevent new protests," IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told AFP.

"We are very concerned that this trend could worsen in the coming months," he added.

Since wartime executions resumed on March 19, two people have also been executed in connection with the "Woman. Life. Freedom." protests that erupted in 2022.

Lebanon said Israeli airstrikes on the country's south on Thursday killed a woman, as Israel's military said it struck Hezbollah targets after the Iran-backed group attacked its soldiers in the south overnight.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported a series of Israeli airstrikes including on the town of Arab Salim, where it said a woman who "had been married for 48 hours" was killed, with other people wounded.

Israel's military said in a statement that it struck "Hezbollah infrastructure" in south Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities.

It said the strikes came "in response" to Hezbollah activity overnight when the Iran-backed militants "launched two explosive drones" towards Israeli soldiers operating in the Ali al-Taher ridge, without causing casualties.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday expressed his country's readiness to establish joint security arrangements with neighbouring states.

Pezeshkian said Iran is reaching out to its neighbours to develop such arrangements "not from a position of weakness, but based on its war experience," according to a statement published on the website of his office.

"We know what war is, and we know that when missiles and bombs land, they do not differentiate between the dreams of an Iranian mother and an Arab mother," he told the 40th International Conference on Islamic Unity in Tehran, Xinhua News Agency reported.

He proposed that Muslim states conclude a mutual security and non-aggression treaty among themselves, stressing that Islamic countries must commit to respecting each other's territorial integrity, refraining from using their soil, airspace, and facilities to invade another Muslim state, and avoiding supporting efforts to destabilise or disintegrate one another.

Pezeshkian also called on Muslim states to cooperate in managing regional security and form joint working groups to promote cooperation in areas including infrastructure, trade, investment and clean energy.

The 40th International Conference on Islamic Unity kicked off on Thursday and will continue until Sunday.

Iran's top diplomat met his Qatari counterpart on Thursday in Tehran for talks on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, as a US naval blockade squeezes oil supplies to Iran amid a domestic shortfall.

The visit by Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani follows a week of intense diplomacy in Iran involving separate meetings with Oman's top diplomat and senior Pakistani officials seeking ways to end the Middle East war and reopen Hormuz.

It also comes as Washington threatens wider secondary sanctions against countries, banks and companies that continue doing business with Iran, part of a broader campaign it has called "economic asphyxiation".

Iranian state television said Al Thani, who is also Qatar's prime minister, had met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, without providing details.

Qatar's foreign ministry said they discussed de-escalation efforts as well as the proposed framework for Hormuz between Iran and Oman.

Al Thani "emphasised the necessity of respecting the sovereignty of neighbouring states and freedom of navigation", and pursuing dialogue, the ministry said.

Alongside mediator Pakistan, Qatar had played a key role in securing an April ceasefire and June deal between Iran and the United States, but those deals have since collapsed.

Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, wrote late Wednesday in a social media post that the US had made a coalition with Bahrain, calling it a country with “virtually no meaningful economic exchange with Iran.”

In another social media post on Wednesday, Iran’s top negotiator and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf thanked China for rejecting the US “economic D-Day” policies against Iran.

“We welcome China’s principled statement rejecting illegal sanctions against Iran," Qalibaf said.

Earlier this week, Tehran had warned that it would respond harshly to expanded US sanctions, including measures against countries it sees as cooperating with Washington. Iran has repeatedly targeted Bahrain and other Gulf countries with missiles and drones since the US and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.

Pakistan said Thursday it was continuing diplomatic efforts to help resolve the crisis between the United States and Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said at a news briefing that Field Marshal Asim Munir’s recent visit to Tehran was aimed at reviving the June memorandum of understanding to reopen the strait.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has also continued diplomatic outreach during Munir’s visit, speaking with his Turkish, Egyptian, and other regional counterparts, Andrabi said.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is expected in Tehran on Thursday for talks with Iranian officials on “ways to de-escalate tensions & create the conditions conducive to dialogue,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said on X.

The discussions, confirmed by Tehran, will also address “freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz and the need to return to the prewar status quo, according to Majed Al Ansari, an agency spokesperson.

Oil prices fell at settlement on Wednesday following a volatile session.

Brent crude futures dropped 74 cents, or 0.84%, to settle at $87.84 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 13 cents, or 0.16%, to close at $82.23 per barrel.

According to CNN, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, carrying about 5,000 personnel, is expected to deploy to the Middle East in the coming weeks for at least seven months. Sailors have been told to prepare for an even longer mission, with Navy Master Chief Petty Officer John Perryman saying the crew is planning around an eight-month deployment.

CNN reports that the deployment comes as the US Navy grapples with the strain caused by the USS Abraham Lincoln’s prolonged mission in the region. The Lincoln spent more than 250 days at sea, including an exceptionally long stretch without a port visit.

An "unknown projectile" struck a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz this week, causing a fire that has since been put out, a British maritime agency said early on Thursday.

To read the full report, click here.

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